Zwift’s “ZRacing” is the platform’s most popular ongoing race series, and in April we’re racing multiple laps of shorter courses, including the new Glasgow Reverse course which has never been used before! Read on for details about race routes, the overall monthly GC competition, and more…
Lap It Up – April’s Route Schedule
Here are the routes we’ll be racing in April (click route for details):
The ZRacing series consists of monthly sets of weekly races. Each race is scheduled for seven days (beginning 1:10am UTC on Monday and running through to the next Sunday). Timeslots are consistent week to week and month to month.
Races are scheduled ~15 times each day, so there are plenty of available times to find a race.
Each monthly series includes a time-based GC (general classification) tracking riders’ best finishing times for each week’s race. The overall winners in each category for the month are the riders with the lowest overall time for that month’s set of races.
With over 100 weekly timeslots available, riders can race each week’s event multiple times and try to better their finishing time. Tip: the fastest times usually come from the largest race fields!
You must use a heart rate monitor and be on a smart trainer, smart bike, or power meter to show up in ZwiftPower results for this series.
Each month’s ZRacing series has a unique achievement badge, which you can unlock by finishing every stage for the month.
There are no makeup events, so if you miss a stage, you miss out on the badge and competing in the GC.
One and Done
Zwift has planned these events to deliver a solid 1-hour workout, so each race should only take around 1 hour to complete, including your warmup and cooldown.
Speed Tests: Rubberbanding (Keep Everyone Together) Mode on Climbs in Zwift Meetups
UPDATE: Zwift greatly improved their banding algorithm after this post was published. To see current “keep together” test results, read the updated post.
This is the final post in my series testing “Keep Everyone Together” mode in Club events and Meetups. So far, we’ve tested banded Club Events on flat ground, as well as Meetups. These tests showed us that Zwift is using two different banding algorithms: one for Club events, and one for Meetups. The Meetups algorithm seems to turn in more accurate (and faster) times on flat ground.
Next, I published tests for banded Club Events on a climb: Alpe du Zwift, to be precise. These tests showed that banded Club Events are giving riders unrealistically fast speeds.
All that remains is to test climbing in banded Meetups and compare those results to climbing banded Club Events. Let’s get to it!
Testing Banded Alpe Meetups
The core questions I want to answer are: Do rubberbanded Meetup speeds make sense, or are they too slow, too fast, or some strange mix of both? And how do they compare to banded Club Events?
The riders in these tests were 75kg in weight, 183cm tall, and rode Zwift Carbon bikes with 32mm carbon wheels. I timed the riders on the Alpe du Zwift climb segment since it’s steep and long enough to be a good representation of climb performance.
Test 1: A Pair of Bots
This first round of tests used just two riders in a Meetup with “Keep Everyone Together” mode enabled. Here are each rider’s power outputs, segment times, and average speeds.
Rider 1
Rider 2
Time
Speed (kph)
300W
300W
48:51
15.0
300W
225W
49:42
14.8
300W
150W
49:42
14.8
300W
75W
49:42
14.8
300W
10W
49:44
14.7
225W
225W
1:04:25
11.4
225W
150W
1:04:44
11.3
225W
75W
1:04:53
11.3
150W
150W
1:35:04
7.7
150W
75W
1:35:44
7.7
Observations
When both riders held the same power the times are similar to banded Club Event times, although the Meetup test results are always a bit slower.
But the big thing that stands out here is that these times are significantly slower than the banded Club Event tests when the riders have differing power numbers. The times you see above are roughly in line with what we see from ZwiftPower’s historical data on the Alpe du Zwift segment, if we base the time on the stronger rider’s power.
So it appears that banded Meetups are delivering fairly accurate speeds, at least for the more powerful rider in the group. (The weaker rider in, say, a 300W and 75W pairing will, of course, have an unrealistically high speed.)
Getting a bit pickier, it’s odd that our test riders turned in the same time whether the pair was doing 300W and 225W, or they were doing 300W and 75W. Logically, you would expect things to be at least a bit slower when the group’s average power drops considerably.
Test 2: Solo Rider
Next, I wanted to test how a solo rider in a rubberbanded Meetup performs compared to the paired riders above. So I created a Meetup with “Keep Everyone Together” enabled, but only had one rider join. Here are the results:
Rider 1
Time
Speed (kph)
300W
49:43
14.8
225W
1:04:56
11.3
Compare those numbers above to free ride times with a solo rider (which should, in theory, be the same):
Rider 1
Time
Speed (kph)
300W
49:28
14.8
225W
1:04:44
11.3
Observations
First, notice that when there is just one rider in the rubberbanded event, their speeds closely match the tests when we had one stronger rider banded to a weaker one. This is also what we saw with the flat tests for banded Meetups. They don’t perfectly match a free riding solo rider, but they’re close, and much closer than our tests with a solo rider in a banded Club Event.
Secondly, our solo banded Meetup rider was significantly faster than the solo banded Club Ride rider. This is just further evidence that the algorithm for banded Club Rides needs fixing.
Concluding Thoughts
These test results clearly show that “Keep Everyone Together” mode in Meetups behaves very differently from “Keep Everyone Together” mode in Clubs. Specifically, banded Meetups are markedly slower on climbs than banded Club events.
This is the opposite of what we observed in our flat tests of banded Club Events and Meetups. In those tests, banded Meetups were markedly faster than banded Club events.
But here’s the good news: on both flats and climbs, banded Meetups appear, at least from my limited 2-rider tests, to perform fairly realistically, in a way that all participants can enjoy. So Zwift may have a simple solution available that will greatly improve the current banded riding experience: instead of running two different banding algorithms (one for Club events, one for Meetups) just run one, and make it the one currently in use for Meetups!
But I’ll add one more recommendation to that: mark all banded activities as “gamified” when uploading to Strava, so segment times don’t go on leaderboards or count for personal PRs. This fixes the issue of lower-power riders setting PRs in banded events that they can never break when riding in a non-banded environment. Going even further, banded event times should also be hidden from in-game leaderboards, and shouldn’t be saved for segments or HoloReplays.
There Is Good News!
Zwift HQ has noticed these speed tests… and they’re working to improve the banding algorithm! Just this week I chatted with a Zwift software engineer about it, and it sounds like a solution may be released very soon. I may even get to test it before it’s released. Ride on!
Zwift has rolled out a fresh Mission for April, and it’s all about going the distance.
Note: signups opened today, but the Mission doesn’t begin until March 31.
Getting Started
To begin the Mission, select the mission card on your homescreen and click to register:
Once you’ve registered, clicking the mission card will show your Mission progress.
Completing the Mission
To complete the mission and earn the achievement badge, register for the mission then ride at least 100 miles (161 km) between March 31-April 30.
Many riders will find this challenge easy since every ride on Zwift counts toward completion. So why not make it tougher and attempt the full 100 miles in one Zwift activity? Do it and you’ll unlock the coveted black century kit:
I recently turned 65 years young, and I’ve never let my age define me or prevent me from taking on new adventures – especially athletic pursuits. I’m very competitive with myself! For instance, when I first joined Zwift in April 2021, I immediately set a goal of completing all routes (and yes, including the 6 hour PRL Full). I joined The Coalition in May 2022 and my ZRL team is Delirium; I’ve been very fortunate to race with such a fun, strong, and supportive group of women, led by our amazing captain Beccah Niesen. I’m a Cat B punchy rider and my favorite races are crits, namely Glasgow Crit Circuit, Bell Lap, and Downtown Dolphin. I also really like taking part in virtual TTTs with my teammates.
Let me share my story, decade by decade, so one can get a better understanding of my psyche as it relates to my athleticism. I hope my story helps and inspires women, even if just for a few more minutes of training every week.
The Early Years – Fun and Busy (0-39)
I was a high-energy child and involved in a lot of sports like running, cycling, swimming, and skiing. My nickname was Roadrunner as no one, not even the boys, could catch me in a game of tag! I was on the track team in high school, but my passion was downhill skiing. I started university and continued running and cycling for fitness through my twenties; this was a very busy decade during which I completed my post-graduate studies, started my career as a Social Worker in a maximum security detention centre, got married to my husband of 40 years, and gave birth to our 2 sons.
In my thirties, I was busy raising our high-energy sons who were involved in various sports like hockey, soccer, judo, and skiing. I worked full-time providing individual and group counselling services to youth and women in conflict with the law. Running during my lunchtime was not only for fitness, but a healthy way to manage my stress. A colleague suggested I start training for 5km and 10km races, and I got hooked on racing.
The Fun, Busy, and Interesting Years (40-65)
In my forties, I was busy with my career and raising teenagers, but always made time for running and training for races. I had excellent coaches and trained with a great group of friends. I decided to train for a marathon after setting the goal of racing 42km when I turned 42 years young. I qualified for the Boston Marathon, and, of course, I had to do it. I continued training and ended up doing 12 marathons, including 4 Boston marathons, over an 18-year period.
At 49 years young, I had my first hot flash at the Boilermaker 15km race in Utica, N.Y. It was as if someone poured a bucket of water over my head. I was drenched, and a couple of minutes later, my skin was dry, but my clothes were soaked. I experienced these hot flashes that came on intermittently and suddenly, never lasting more than a couple of minutes, for about 3 years. I had to bring extra clothes to work, just in case. I didn’t let these hot flashes prevent me from running. However, my running was not like it was; I had slowed down and didn’t perform as well in races.
I went through a period when I thought my racing days were over and this negative self-talk contributed to my not-so-great performance in races. It took me about 2 years to realize that I had to adjust my goals in racing and throw my ego out the window. I chose to consciously remind myself to be grateful for being able to run and accept the fact that I was not going to continue getting PBs with age… duh. It took me that long to embrace aging and celebrate my accomplishments. Interestingly, these thoughts and feelings pertained only to my running.
In my fifties, my husband and I became empty nesters and traveled a fair bit. I retired and started training for triathlons because I had the time to incorporate swimming, running, and cycling into my training schedule. I did a few triathlon training camps in Florida and started to do regular group rides and open water swims in addition to my running. I loved this cross training and I truly believe it has helped me to stay healthy and keep injuries at bay. My hot flashes subsided and I began setting new goals. I completed several running and triathlon races. To my surprise, I rediscovered my speed and usually ended up on the podium in my AG (age group). Woohoo!
The last 5 years can be summarized as me having the time of my life with my husband, my sons, and my 2 precious granddaughters as well as continuing to train for running and triathlon races. In 2019, I qualified for the World Triathlon Championships which were supposed to be held in Edmonton, Alberta in 2020 but the pandemic necessitated a postponement to Bermuda the following year. I was getting excited to compete in Bermuda but the event was postponed yet again because of the pandemic; this time, the World Triathlon Sprint Championships were to be held in Montreal, Quebec. After 3 years of training for this event, I was getting closer to crossing this goal off my bucket list, but unfortunately, I was involved in a bike crash and broke my elbow, 6 weeks before the race. Upon being cleared by the orthopedic surgeon, I competed on June 25, 2022. Needless to say, my swim was mediocre but I completed it and I was glad it was finally done. I didn’t let these setbacks (pandemic and broken arm) prevent me from accomplishing my goal.
I’ve been called a Zwiftie, a term I wholeheartedly embrace because for me, Zwift racing is a convenient, effective and efficient way to keep my cycling fitness as high as it can be. This is especially true when the weather for outdoor riding is unfavorable (e.g. snow, ice, rain, wind) or when I have an injury, like a broken arm. I don’t really have a convenient and traffic-free route outdoors for cycling workouts. I like Zwift because workouts and hard rides are much safer to complete as I don’t have to worry about automobiles or traffic lights and signs. Moreover, the weather in my basement is always good, so I never have to ride in the rain unless I really want to. There are no potholes, flat tires, or the potential for a crash caused by careless drivers or cyclists. Last but not least, I have met so many wonderful virtual friends on Zwift and I even had the pleasure of meeting one of my Delirium teammates IRL. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love riding outdoors and I have a wonderful group of friends with whom I ride on a weekly basis, weather permitting.
Words of Wisdom
The longer you live, the more attention you need to pay to little nagging injuries. My days of running and cycling through pain are over. My days of rolling out of bed and heading out for a run or ride are over. Instead, I have incorporated a regime of dynamic stretching, foam rolling, strength training and mobility exercises through Pilates, Power Barbell, and Core, Balance and Stretch classes at my local gym.
Presently, I do 3 to 4 runs/weekly including speed work and 4 to 5 rides/weekly including a Zwift race and/or workout. My rest days from running and cycling have been Mondays for many years, because my long endurance runs and/or rides are on Sundays. I believe the wisdom that has come with aging for me has allowed me to stay injury-free by making sure I have a proper warm-up and cool-down when I run and ride. I also treat myself to monthly massages. I have had my share of injuries over the years, like sprained ankles, plantar fasciitis, and hamstring tears but thanks to my wonderful coaches and physiotherapist, I followed their advice and allowed my injuries to heal fully before returning to running and/or cycling.
I eat well and my diet consists mainly of healthy carbs, fish and chicken (no red meat), and I love devouring a bag of chips every once in a while. I sleep well, at least 8 hours/night with no naps.
Finally, I don’t let my age dictate what I can or can’t do because when I put my mind on a goal, I do everything in my control and power to achieve that goal. Sometimes there are setbacks, in which case I reassess and, though it may take longer, I don’t give up. Once I commit, I persevere and eventually, if it’s possible, I get there. I am proof that women can race in their sixties. For women new to Zwift racing, get clearance from your medical doctor, get a personal trainer or coach, start building a mileage base, join a women’s team, then sign up for a race. Ride on!!!
How did you get into cycling? I joined Her Spirit as I wanted to do a triathlon before my 50th birthday. I bought myself my first road bike for my 49th birthday and did my first triathlon a few weeks later. I’m now in training for my first (and only) Ironman with support from the Her Spirit coaches.
How many years have you been racing on Zwift? About 3 years.
Are you part of a Virtual team? Yes, started with BRT and EVO, now with Galaxy Cycling Club.
What do you love most about racing? I like pushing myself out of my comfort zone.
What is your favourite style of race (e.g. points, scratch, iTT, TTT, Chase, duathlon)? I prefer longer races and anything with a few punchy climbs.
What is your favourite Zwift women’s race series? Tour de Boudicca as I enjoy the team aspect and you can challenge yourself as an individual as the races are all different.
What is your most memorable racing experience, inside or outside or BOTH? Inside, crossing the line first on the Glasgow Crit race in the last Tour de Boudicca which was unexpected as I was focussing on my training points. My daughter was next to me cheering me over the line which is what made it really special to me. Outdoors, my first duathlon was great fun. I was terrified and I was terrible at it. I even got overtaken by a guy wearing an Elmo costume!
What is your favourite food to eat post race? Chocolate milk.
What advice would you give to a woman entering her first Zwift race? Learn to enjoy the process rather than the results, and then every race is a good race.
This week, we’re departing from our usual approach to picking notable events. Instead of going for the most popular events, we’re highlighting some of the more unique, fun, and interesting events on the calendar. Enjoy!
Ladies, join the women of OWL.BiKe for a shorter, easier event. “Get ready to pedal and ponder! While we spin in the Grey Zone, we’ll challenge our “Grey Matter” with trivia questions ranging from music and movies, to aging and cycling.” 45 minutes on Makuri Islands’ Neon Flats at 1-1.5W/kg.
Have you ever tried age-based racing? This new race series from the Herd has everyone starting together, but riders are divided up into 5-year age groups by ZwiftPower in the final results.
The kickoff events are this weekend, with everyone racing one lap of the Makuri 40 route (40.3km).
Looking for a long race? Restart’s Saturday Sizzler is 100km long, on Watopia’s Eastern Eight route. Everyone starts together, so prepare for a hard start and see how long you can hang on!
Ride with Ashleigh Moolman Pasio herself and/or one of the Rocacorba Collective Ambassadors! “The Rocacorba Collective, in collaboration with Khaltsha Cycling Academy, is helping more women in Khayelitsha in Cape Town ride bikes, and Ash would like you to join her and be part of this movement that’s close to Ash’s heart.” This is a 60-minute group ride on Makuri Islands’ Electric Loop route at 2.5-3.2W/kg.
Ready for a group ride with a twist? In this progressive group ride you’ll warm up at 2.5 W/kg for 10’, then increase to 3.5 over 10’, then 3.5+ as you are able in your group. The event covers nearly one lap of Watopia’s Big Foot Hills (64.1km).
We choose each weekend’s Notable Events based on a variety of factors including:
Is the event unique/innovative in some way?
Are celebrities (pro riders, etc) attending/leading?
Are signup counts already high, meaning the event is extra-popular?
Does the ride include desirable unlocks or prizes?
Does the event appeal to ladies on Zwift? (We like to support this under-represented group!)
Is it for a good cause?
Is it just plain crazy (extra long races, world record attempts, etc)?
Is it a long-running, popular weekly event with a dedicated leader who deserves a shout out?
In the end, we want to call attention to events that are extra-special and therefore extra-appealing to Zwifters. If you think your event qualifies, comment below with a link/details and we may just include it in an upcoming post!
How hard is it really to win a Zwift race? In our top video for this week, a top crit racer out of the United States decides to put this to the test, racing in every category until he takes the win.
We’ve also selected a Zwift Big Spin hack, zone 3 training, an Alpe du Zwift personal record attempt, and a race finale recap.
Can I win every category in Zwift?
Jeff Linder from NorcalCycling creates a new Zwift account and races in each category, starting with category D and ending with category A. It can’t be that hard… right?
Complete the Zwift Big Spin the Easy Way
Lots of riders are eager to unlock all of the items from the spinning wheel at the end of each Zwift Big Spin event. Eric Lee from Don’t Get Dropped Cycling shares his trick to spinning the wheel without even riding!
The TRUTH About ZONE 3
In the latest video from Everything is Photogenic, Sarah discusses Zone 3 training, something that is quite controversial amongst structured training enthusiasts.
New Alpe Du Zwift PR Attempt
Over 7 months after he first ascended the Alpe Du Zwift, Ryan Condon returns for another go. This time, he is targeting a personal record, aiming to break 90 minutes.
Is everything I have enough? | Tour Finale | Zwift Race
Eric Barfell recaps his experience in the final stage of the FRR Tour. How will he place in the final results?
Got a Great Zwift Video?
Share the link below and we may feature it in an upcoming post!
Speed Tests: Rubberbanding (Keep Everyone Together) Mode on Climbs in Zwift Club Events
UPDATE: Zwift greatly improved their banding algorithm after this post was published. To see current “keep together” test results, read the updated post.
Have you ever done a “Keep Together” ride in Zwift? In this mode, all riders in the event are kept in the same group, regardless of the power you’re putting out.
“Rubberbanding” makes it easy to keep a group of cyclists together, and that’s a good thing, because any ride leader will tell you that keeping cyclists together without some artificial help can feel like herding cats!
Testing the Rubberbands
So how does Zwift’s “Keep Everyone Together” logic work? I’m not entirely sure, and Zwift isn’t revealing the secret sauce. So I’ve been running tests to find out what speeds rubberbanded riders reach at different power levels, in different event setups. For science!
The core question I want to answer is: Do rubberbanded speeds make sense? Are they too slow, too fast, or some strange mix of both?
My first tests were on flat ground in a banded Club Event. Then I did more flat tests, but this time using a banded Meetup. Today, we’re digging into our first banded climb tests, using a banded Club Event.
The riders in these tests were 75kg in weight, 183cm tall, and rode Zwift Carbon bikes with 32mm carbon wheels. I timed the riders on the Alpe du Zwift climb segment since it’s steep and long enough to be a good representation of climb performance.
Test 1: A Pair of Bots
This first round of tests used just two riders in a Club event with “Keep Everyone Together” mode enabled. Here are each rider’s power outputs, segment times, and average speeds.
Rider 1
Rider 2
Time
Speed (kph)
300W
300W
47:18
15.5
300W
295W
47:52
15.3
300W
225W
40:10
18.3
300W
150W
40:10
18.3
300W
75W
40:11
18.2
300W
10W
42:46
17.1
225W
225W
1:01:13
12.0
225W
150W
50:56
14.4
225W
75W
50:56
14.4
150W
150W
1:28:46
8.3
150W
75W
1:12:59
10
Observations
The first thing that stands out here is how illogical the results are. Why would two banded riders holding 300W be 7 minutes slower than one rider holding 300W banded to a rider holding 75W?
This pattern repeats itself, too. When two riders match wattage, they turn in a much slower time than when the wattages are unmatched, even though the stronger rider’s wattage is the same in both tests.
That’s not to say the matched wattage times are particularly slow, though. They just seem slow because the unmatched wattage test times are way too fast.
For example: a solo rider holding 300W climbs the Alpe in 49:28. But a banded group with one rider holding 300W and the other holding 75W climbs the Alpe in 40:11!
The other odd thing is how the pair times don’t change as the weaker rider’s power decreases. (This same phenomenon was observed in our flat tests.) That is, when Rider 1 is holding 300W and Rider 2 is holding 225W, they’re traveling at the same speed as when Rider 1 holds 300W and Rider 2 holds 75W. That’s strange. Shouldn’t groups travel significantly faster if the group’s average power increases significantly?
Test 2: Solo Rider
Next, I wanted to test how a solo rider in a rubberbanded Club event performs compared to the paired riders above. So I created an event with “Keep Together” enabled, but only had one rider join. Here are the results:
Rider 1
Time
Speed (kph)
300W
55:10
13.1
225W
1:12:16
10.1
150W
1:45:42
6.9
Compare those numbers above to free ride times with a solo rider (which should, in theory, be the same):
Rider 1
Time
Speed (kph)
300W
49:28
14.8
225W
1:04:44
11.3
150W
1:35:37
7.7
Observations
First, notice that when there is just one rider in the rubberbanded event, their speeds are much slower than they would be when free riding. That’s goofy. The speed difference between a solo rider in a banded event vs free riding isn’t as dramatic on the Alpe as it was in our flat tests, but there is still a significant difference.
Also, notice how the solo tests all came in significantly slower than the paired rider tests, even though logically that wouldn’t happen.
Concluding Thoughts
Simply put, Keep Together mode is broken up Alpe du Zwift. Zwift supposedly slowed banded group speeds on climbs in their version 1.52 update, but based on the results above, speeds are still too high!
I’d love to see rubberbanding improved so it’s a more realistic experience, but we also think Zwift should consider flagging all banded rides as “Gamified” when uploading to Strava, so we don’t set new segment PRs thanks to unrealistically high speeds in banded rides. Holoreplay and other in-game PR data also should not be saved for banded events, and times should not show on leaderboards outside of the event itself.
Coming Up Next
Soon, I’ll perform similar tests using banded Meetups, to see if/how Meetup banding behaves differently from Club Event banding. Stay tuned!
